State champ set to compete in National Spelling Bee

12:02 AM,
May 25, 2014

Karelyn Malliet, a seventh-grader at Shawano Community Middle School, reacts after winning the Badger State Spelling Bee as second place Bowen Jing, eighth-grader at Merrill Middle School, looks on at Madison Area Technical College's Mitby Theatre in Madison on March 29.

Written by

Donovan Slack | Gannett Wisconsin Media Washington Bureau

Wisconsin's state spelling champion is prepared to represent the state in this week's National Spelling Bee but she's not sure she wants Wisconsinites to watch.

"People watching me on TV, that's a really scary thought, to be honest," said Karelyn Malliet, a 13-year-old from Shawano who won the state bee in Madison in March to clinch the berth in the national competition.

The Scripps National Spelling Bee competition starts Tuesday with a preliminary vocabulary test. On-stage spelling begins Wednesday, with two preliminary rounds that will be streamed on ESPN3. ...